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Three Tips for Suppliers to Master the Peak Construction Season

These tips demonstrate how technology can help to support building suppliers in meeting the delivery expectations of contractors to ensure construction projects are kept on schedule, even during the frenzy of the peak summer season.
By Sunil Mathew
July 29, 2019
Topics
Markets

In the midst of the busiest time of year, contractors and suppliers are grappling with the logistics of managing summer building season demands, from coordinating schedules, routes and trades to managing deliveries of equipment and materials. Contractors face the challenge of managing this intricate web of interdependent activities, all operating with time, resource and budget constraints.

On the supply side, building suppliers strive for delivered-in-full and on-time (DIFOT) performance, ensuring materials and equipment are delivered when expected, to the right worksite, in the correct quantities—a daunting challenge when servicing multiple customers and projects during the height of the construction season.

Adding complexity to the task, distribution performance is impacted by the nature of the delivery: different regions have unique delivery needs, while different materials have specific loading and unloading times and require different types of trucks (e.g., boom trucks, vans, dump trucks) and off-loading equipment (e.g., cranes, fork lifts, telescopic handlers). Unpredictable weather and environmental factors, short lead times on orders (often less than 24 hours), tight delivery windows and custom requests further complicate the process.

TECHNOLOGY BOOSTS PERFORMANCE

Traditional paper-based, manual practices are unable to keep pace with the highly mobile and highly variable construction environment—a shortfall particularly damaging during the onslaught of summer projects. Without effective logistics management to streamline the complex delivery process, jobsite productivity declines, costs escalate, time commitments are not met and customer service falters.

In light of the shortcomings of manual processes, contractors are choosing to do business with suppliers that can help them maintain a tighter, paperless supply chain. To meet mounting contractor expectations, leading building supply companies are turning to technology and mobile solutions to automate the supply chain, optimize last mile delivery and match the speed the summer building season demands.

With time at a premium, the following tech tips outline how to eliminate paper from the supply chain to drive efficiencies—and help contractors make hay while the sun shines.

1. EMPLOY ELECTRONIC PROOF OF DELIVERY (POD)

Cumbersome paper-based POD is fraught with illegible details, missing signatures, lost paperwork and time-consuming disputes between contractors and suppliers. By using mobile devices and electronic POD, drivers can wirelessly confirm deliveries in real time. Electronic signatures and on-site photos of delivered materials further streamline the process.

Any issues (e.g., damage, incorrect products or quantities) or customer feedback can also be captured in real time with mobile POD—supported by photos taken upon delivery at the jobsite—and automatically uploaded to back-office systems. As a result, electronic POD significantly minimizes customer calls and disputes, streamlines claims resolution, reduces credits and mitigates fraudulent claims.

Additionally, removing paper from the process using electronic POD increases visibility and accuracy, accelerates billing cycles and improves cash flow while minimizing the time and effort required to execute end-of-day reconciliations and returns processing.

2. LEVERAGE REAL-TIME ROUTE PLANNING AND SCHEDULING

Conventional paper-based routing is time consuming, inefficient and error-prone. In contrast, automated routing and scheduling transforms distribution operations to seamlessly manage deliveries during the high-intensity summer months. Building suppliers are able to improve on-time delivery performance, increase capacity utilization and boost contractor satisfaction.

By shifting the ability to schedule appointments, dispatch orders, optimize routes and communicate with drivers to a paperless environment, suppliers can reduce delivery time windows, address exceptions on the road and respond to contractors’ changes in real time. Plus, intelligent route planning reduces transportation costs by minimizing mileage, fuel consumption and vehicle idle time.

3. GET REAL-TIME UPDATES ON MOBILE DEVICES

Contractors are focused on keeping projects on schedule and on budget. To schedule crews and keep projects on track, they need insight into when and what materials are arriving at the jobsite. Mobile technology provides contractors with accurate, real-time visibility into the details and timing of deliveries, including automated exception notifications.

Using a mobile device, drivers access delivery schedules while real-time GPS data is used to track vehicle location, monitor appointments, estimate travel time and keep contractors up-to-date. On the construction site, contractors using mobile devices are automatically notified of changes to the delivery schedule.

On the supplier end, mobile solutions provide the sales team with real-time visibility into which yard is shipping an order, where the load originated, anticipated time of delivery and what materials comprise specific loads—eliminating the string of phone calls and emails previously required to ascertain the necessary information.

A paperless supply chain is possible. In this mobile-focused, data-driven world, an automated supply chain is a new competitive weapon in the construction industry, driving greater operational efficiencies, performance and cost-effectiveness. The tips above demonstrate how technology can help to support building suppliers in meeting the delivery expectations of contractors to ensure construction projects are kept on schedule, even during the frenzy of the peak summer season.

by Sunil Mathew

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